Cathie Wood
Founder & CEO, ARK Invest, St. Petersburg
Rugged individualist, star investor and social-media sensation Wood chose St. Petersburg for her headquarters upon leaving New York in 2021, while the rest of the relocating financial world opted for South Florida. You don’t stand out by following the crowd. Wood became famous when Ark’s Innovation ETF soared early this decade. Wood’s bold picks in speculative tech stocks paid off, drawing billions in investor cash. Since then, not so much. Morningstar listed Ark atop its list of the top 10 wealth-destroying fund families for the past 10 years. Ark, according to Morningstar, lost $14.3 billion for investors in the past decade. Some investors bailed on her. In Tampa Bay, she’s invested in the community with initiatives such as partnering with schools and backing an innovation center. She remains a must-watch investor whose buys and sells draw lots of attention in the financial media. Ark in June forecast Tesla’s share price reaching $2,600 by 2029 thanks to robo-taxis.
